Removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm technique

Abstract

Algal biofilm technology is a new and advanced wastewater treatment method. Experimental study on removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm under the continuous light of 3500 Lux in the batch and continuous systems was carried out in this paper to assess the performance of algal biofilm in removing nutrients. The results showed that the effect of removing nitrogen and phosphorus by algal biofilm was remarkable in the batch system. The removal efficiencies of total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), ammonia-nitrogen (NH₃-N), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached 98.17%, 86.58%, 91.88%, and 97.11%, respectively. In the continuous system, hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 4 days was adopted; the effects of removing TP, TN, NH₃-N, and COD by algal biofilm were very stable. During a run of 24 days, the removal efficiencies of TP, TN, NH₃-N, and COD reached 95.38%, 83.93%, 82.38%, and 92.31%, respectively. This study demonstrates the feasibility of removing nitrogen and phosphorus from simulated wastewater using algal biofilm.

Keywords

biological treatment / algal biofilm / nitrogen / phosphorus / chemical oxygen demand (COD)